Vault, a research and publishing company that provides in-depth intelligence on what it's really like to work in an industry, company, or profession, has joined uConnect’s partnership program.

As part of the partnership, Vault and uConnect worked together to build a deep technical integration that automatically pulls Vault’s Guides into the uConnect platform, where they are surfaced and curated for students among other relevant career development content in digital Career Communities.

The integration, now available, is driving significant engagement with Vault’s valuable resources. Colleges and universities that have implemented the integration between Vault and uConnect have already seen dramatic growth in student engagement with their Vault guides.

The University of Connecticut, the University of Pennsylvania, and Texas A&M’s Mays School of Business are a few of the institutions that implemented the integration between Vault and uConnect in 2019. The increases in engagement they all saw are outstanding.

Engagement with career development resources is vital to closing the career information gap, which plagues the majority of students enrolled in higher education. Without accessing information about the career landscape and how to launch a chosen career, students wind up uncertain that they will succeed in the workplace. In fact, a recent Strada-Gallup survey of currently enrolled students found that only a third of students believe they will have the skills and knowledge to be successful in the job market (34%) and in the workplace (36%).

Vault Guides are an excellent antidote to the career information gap. They contain in-depth information about specific industries, potential careers within those industries, and what it’s like to work in a particular field day-to-day. For institutions that provide access to these guides for their students, the trick is making sure all students -- as well as faculty and staff who can refer students to the right resources at the right time -- are aware that the guides exist, and that it’s exceptionally easy for everyone to access them.

"By integrating Vault guides into our uConnect platform, we've increased student awareness and usage of these valuable resources,” says Kim Austin, Director of the Mays Business School Graduate Career Management Center at Texas A&M University, the first institution to combine the forces of their uConnect platform and Vault guides. “This is not an insignificant accomplishment, as it means that more Mays business students are making thoroughly informed career decisions, and are entering the working world with an in-depth understanding of what to expect when working in their industry of choice.”

The increases in engagement seen by UConn, UPenn and Mays, among other schools, provide clear evidence that streamlining access to the Vault Guides and displaying them among other relevant career resources and opportunities is a surefire way to encourage student engagement with the Guides. And with this increased student engagement comes increased student career confidence -- vital to their success after graduation, and to student perception of their alma mater for years to come.